How to quickly switch and force-close apps with the fourth-gen Apple TV

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited November 2015
Multitasking on the new Apple TV is more iOS-like than ever, thanks to the inclusion of a new dedicated home button on the Siri Remote that functions largely identical to the iPhone and iPad.




The revamped Siri Remote retains the Menu button from the previous Apple Remote, but also gains a new home button to its right. While the Menu button takes users back one menu within an app, the Home button is a quick and easy way to return to the tvOS home screen, where apps can be found.

But jumping back to the home screen isn't necessary for switching apps: Just like on an iPhone, users can double-press the Apple TV Home button to pull up a list of recently opened apps.

All recently opened Apple TV apps are presented in a pop-over menu from left to right. By using the Siri Remote trackpad, users can scroll to the right to quickly jump to their favorite app.

In another feature brought over from iOS, users can also swipe up on the trackpad when an app is selected to force-close the app. As with the iPhone and iPad, some apps will intelligently run in the background to complete tasks, and Apple offers the option to force close them to fix potential problems when an app may be stuck or has crashed.




Finally, tvOS also includes a quick and easy way to put the Apple TV to sleep, also utilizing the new Home button. Simply press and hold the button on the Siri remote and tvOS will present the option to put the set-top box to into sleep mode.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

    How do you turn  off the AppleTV?  Or does it turn off by itself?  Or do I just put it in sleep mode?


    It has two modes: "awake" and "sleep". To turn it "off" you unplug it from the wall. :) It will go to sleep after a selectable amount of time or by pressing and holding the home button then clicking the trackpad to select "Sleep" which also sends an "off" signal to other components over HDMI-CEC.

  • Reply 2 of 21
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    Is it technically "force" quitting like on the Mac, or a regular Quit command. I would hope that it's a regular quit so to give it a chance to do some housekeeping.

    Enquiring minds want to know.
  • Reply 3 of 21
    I long for the day when passenger airliner avionics have a force close feature. "Set trim is not responding. Do you want to force close this feature of your Airbus A470 and report a bug to Airbus?" /s
  • Reply 4 of 21
    coolfactor wrote: »
    Is it technically "force" quitting like on the Mac, or a regular Quit command. I would hope that it's a regular quit so to give it a chance to do some housekeeping.

    Enquiring minds want to know.

    Force quit is when you make it happen with your Jedi mind powers. ;)
  • Reply 5 of 21
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zroger73 View Post

     

    It has two modes: "awake" and "sleep". To turn it "off" you unplug it from the wall. :) It will go to sleep after a selectable amount of time or by pressing and holding the home button then clicking the trackpad to select "Sleep" which also sends an "off" signal to other components over HDMI-CEC.


    I would hope sending an "off" signal to other devices is defeatable. Just because I'm done with the ATV does not mean I want to turn the TV off.

  • Reply 6 of 21
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mike1 View Post

     

    I would hope sending an "off" signal to other devices is defeatable. Just because I'm done with the ATV does not mean I want to turn the TV off.


    It is a selectable option.

  • Reply 7 of 21
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by coolfactor View Post



    Is it technically "force" quitting like on the Mac, or a regular Quit command. I would hope that it's a regular quit so to give it a chance to do some housekeeping.



    Enquiring minds want to know.



    Think iOS because that’s what it is.

  • Reply 8 of 21
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mike1 View Post

     

    I would hope sending an "off" signal to other devices is defeatable. Just because I'm done with the ATV does not mean I want to turn the TV off.




    I set my TV (Samsung Smart TV)  to not respond to an HDMI-CEC “off" signal. I believe it will be a function of the TV, not the ATV4. Samsung calls CEC “Anynet+” and other TV makers might have different names for the protocol. 

  • Reply 9 of 21
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    lkrupp wrote: »

    I set my TV (Samsung Smart TV)  to not respond to an HDMI-CEC “off" signal. I believe it will be a function of the TV, not the ATV4. Samsung calls CEC “Anynet+” and other TV makers might have different names for the protocol. 
    I don't need to set up anything. I plug my 2006 Samsung DPL to HDMI hub and the ATV remote automatically controls TV volume and power it off when I put ATV to sleep. This also works the same with my Epson 3-D projector
  • Reply 10 of 21
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    zroger73 wrote: »
    It has two modes: "awake" and "sleep". To turn it "off" you unplug it from the wall. :) It will go to sleep after a selectable amount of time or by pressing and holding the home button then clicking the trackpad to select "Sleep" which also sends an "off" signal to other components over HDMI-CEC.
    actually there is another mode called "shutdown" buried under Settings...not practical since it requires a few clicks to access that function.
  • Reply 11 of 21
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    sog35 wrote: »
    How do you turn  off the AppleTV?  Or does it turn off by itself?  Or do I just put it in sleep mode?
    get one, Sog. It worths every penny. I love it.
  • Reply 12 of 21
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    Once again the force quit terminology... Why not presume standard quit instead, since that's the least destructive and most common user accessible function? An actual "Force quit", as in process termination, bypasses quit procedures and can result in lost data. Manually quitting apps in iOS doesn't seem to lose data like a crashed app.
  • Reply 13 of 21
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    dysamoria wrote: »
    Once again the force quit terminology... Why not presume standard quit instead, since that's the least destructive and most common user accessible function? An actual "Force quit", as in process termination, bypasses quit procedures and can result in lost data. Manually quitting apps in iOS doesn't seem to lose data like a crashed app.

    Because you're actually force quitting the app when you choose to remove it from FAS, if it's still running. If a crashed app is missing data it means there were issues before it crashed while you thought it was still running fine.
  • Reply 14 of 21
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mike1 View Post

     

    I would hope sending an "off" signal to other devices is defeatable. Just because I'm done with the ATV does not mean I want to turn the TV off.




    I understand what you are saying, but I like keeping this feature turned on. Just because you're done with the ATV does not mean you need to put it in sleep mode. Just change your input and you ATV will eventually go to sleep on its own, depending on the sleep time you specify in settings. The reason I like to keep the feature turned on is because if I want to use my ATV, and everything is turned off, clicking the home button on the Siri remote will turn on my TV and receiver and change everything to the correct input. Or, if I am watching OTA programming on my HD antenna and want to switch to the ATV, all I have to do is click the home button on the ATV remote and the TV and receiver will automatically switch to the correct input. This is much simpler than changing the input on both my receiver and TV remotes every time I want to use the ATV.

  • Reply 15 of 21
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dysamoria View Post



    Once again the force quit terminology... Why not presume standard quit instead, since that's the least destructive and most common user accessible function? An actual "Force quit", as in process termination, bypasses quit procedures and can result in lost data. Manually quitting apps in iOS doesn't seem to lose data like a crashed app.



    Right! It’s not a “force quit.” In case anyone hasn’t noticed tvOS is very much like iOS in the way you rearrange and quit apps. It appears to multitask just like iOS. Apps stay open in the background just like iOS. Double punch the Home button and you get all the apps you have opened just like iOS. 

  • Reply 16 of 21
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    zroger73 wrote: »
    It has two modes: "awake" and "sleep". To turn it "off" you unplug it from the wall. :) It will go to sleep after a selectable amount of time or by pressing and holding the home button then clicking the trackpad to select "Sleep" which also sends an "off" signal to other components over HDMI-CEC.

    I wonder if it can be connected directly to a Mac to run Disk Warrior after a power chord is pulled out? ;)
  • Reply 17 of 21
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    lkrupp wrote: »

    I set my TV (Samsung Smart TV)  to not respond to an HDMI-CEC “off" signal. I believe it will be a function of the TV, not the ATV4. Samsung calls CEC “Anynet+” and other TV makers might have different names for the protocol. 

    Once that ?TV see that Samsung TV all bets are off!
  • Reply 18 of 21
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post

     



    I set my TV (Samsung Smart TV)  to not respond to an HDMI-CEC “off" signal. I believe it will be a function of the TV, not the ATV4. Samsung calls CEC “Anynet+” and other TV makers might have different names for the protocol. 




    AppleTV getting HDMI-CEC support is HUGE news (they should have done this long ago). Instead of having to use a box to switch inputs to the TV, CEC allows the AppleTV to be the command center of it all, notwithstanding the fact that the wiring is star-shaped with the TV itself as the central hub.

    Switching an input device on, may (usefully) tell the TV to wake up and switch to that input. However, switching off a device is NOT supposed to make the TV sleep (and it often does). It is OK if when switching off the TV, all inputs go to sleep. Complicated. I am the only one in the family who gets it.

    But if the AppleTV were to be the only device one has to control, things would get a lot simpler.

  • Reply 19 of 21

    AppleTV getting HDMI-CEC support is HUGE news (they should have done this long ago). Instead of having to use a box to switch inputs to the TV, CEC allows the AppleTV to be the command center of it all, notwithstanding the fact that the wiring is star-shaped with the TV itself as the central hub.
    Switching an input device on, may (usefully) tell the TV to wake up and switch to that input. However, switching off a device is NOT supposed to make the TV sleep (and it often does). It is OK if when switching off the TV, all inputs go to sleep. Complicated. I am the only one in the family who gets it.
    But if the AppleTV were to be the only device one has to control, things would get a lot simpler.

    1) I'm very surprised at how old some of the TVs are that support CEC.

    2) I'm under the impression that if you tell the appliance to Sleep then it does tell the TV to also Sleep, as opposed to simply choosing a different Source which should switch the input and tell that other appliance to wake up.
  • Reply 20 of 21
    lkrupp wrote: »

    I set my TV (Samsung Smart TV)  to not respond to an HDMI-CEC “off" signal. I believe it will be a function of the TV, not the ATV4. Samsung calls CEC “Anynet+” and other TV makers might have different names for the protocol. 

    Not necessarily a full list.


    1000
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